J.J. Hickson's working lunch helps close a winning deal for Cleveland Cavaliers in New Orleans

View full sizeRusty Costanza / New Orleans Times-Picayune via APCenter Zydrunas Ilgauskas, right, in his first game back with the Cavaliers, knocks the ball away from the Hornets' Marcus Thornton during the second half Wednesday in New Orleans.

Story updated at 11:53 p.m.; photo gallery added at 12:21 a.m.

NEW ORLEANS -- At lunchtime Wednesday there were just two people working on the floor at New Orleans Arena, Cavaliers forward J.J. Hickson and assistant coach Chris Jent.

View full sizeBill Haber / APGuard Delonte West had 15 points for the Cavaliers on Wednesday in New Orleans.
While the rest of his teammates were back at the team hotel ordering room service and preparing for naps after taking the bus back from a shootaround, Hickson and Jent stayed and put in extra time working on shooting and offensive moves. Usually this sort of gameday grunt work on the road is for rookies or players on the inactive list, not a starter like Hickson.

But it is clear the Cavs' young big man is feeling some urgency. One missing center is back and another is coming, and Hickson is going to have to step up his game or lose minutes.

He certainly played with urgency on Wednesday come gametime.

Hickson delivered 20 points with nine rebounds and LeBron James turned in another strong performance despite suffering an ankle injury, and the Cavs pushed their winning streak to eight with a 105-92 victory over the New Orleans Hornets.

"I told coach I'm going to make his job hard," Hickson said. "I'm just here to do whatever I can to help the team."

James gave his usual help. After rolling his left ankle moments before halftime when he landed on Hornets forward James Posey's foot, James used the break to recover and then played nearly the whole second half to finish off a 38-point, six-rebound, nine-assist performance.

Game reset

CAVALIERS 105, HORNETS 92

Game No. 72, at New Orleans Arena

What happened: Playing strong offense that saw them rack up 58 points in the paint and shoot 57 percent, the Cavs ran their winning streak to eight games. The frontcourt of LeBron James, Antawn Jamison and J.J. Hickson combined for 69 points and the Cavs' defense held Hornets star Chris Paul to five points and seven assists.

The star: James had 38 points, six rebounds and nine assists.

The co-star: Hickson had 20 points and nine rebounds.

Highlight: Late in the first quarter, Zydrunas Ilgauskas entered the game for his second tour of duty with the Cavs.

Lowlight: James rolled his left ankle just before halftime, but he was able to continue playing.

It was the first time the Cavs have won in New Orleans since 2005 and their first on the road against the Hornets since 2006 (when they played in Oklahoma City because of damage from Hurricane Katrina). It had been their longest road drought against any team in the league.

Coupled with the Orlando Magic's loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday, the Cavs' (57-15) magic number to clinch the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs is down to four.

Wednesday's game also was the return of center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who played for the first time since Feb. 11 and had one point and three rebounds in 16 minutes. Ilgauskas struggled defensively at times, especially when the Hornets played a smaller lineup and he was forced to guard players outside the paint area.

"I tried not to force anything," Ilgauskas said. "It felt like I was in space, the floor was very huge for me today. I expect it to shrink up each game."

It was Hickson who stole the show.

He made 9 of 11 shots, mostly playing off James in pick-and-roll situations and also attacking the rim when seeing space. It was the sort of aggressive performance that forced Cavs coach Mike Brown to play him with regularity earlier in the season.

"He has lapses every now and then, but you're going to have that from a player in his second year," James said. "J.J.'s learning, and if J.J. continues to do what I tell him to do he'll be successful. It's the truth."

It put the Hornets (34-39) in a quandary -- they simply could not devote players to defend James, Hickson and forward Antawn Jamison. One of them seemed to always be open and they combined for 69 points. With the Cavs approaching full strength with their roster, this is the problem they are hoping to give more teams.

In the third quarter the Cavs broke the game open by ripping off a 16-4 run. Hickson scored nine of the points as James handed out four assists. Then in the fourth quarter the Hornets turned their attention away from James and tried some zone defense, even putting the undersized Chris Paul on James for a few possessions.

View full sizeRusty Costanza / Times-Picayune via APThe Hornets' Morris Peterson, left, and David West manage to slow down LeBron James on this play, but New Orleans couldn't stop James from scoring 38 points on the night.
That didn't work either, especially when James easily scored over Paul as he had 13 points in the fourth. The rout was on.

Throw in guard Delonte West, who once again provided a spark off the bench with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting, and Jamison, who had another double double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, and it was a complete offensive performance.

In all, the Cavs shot 57 percent and assembled 58 points in the paint, with Hickson creating many of the problems.

"He's an athletic big, and to have that athleticism out there and that quickness out there makes everybody else's job easier," Brown said of Hickson. "I've got some tough decisions, not just with him, but with some other guys."

The Hornets, who have been struggling lately, weren't bailed out by their offense. The Cavs played effective pick-and-roll defense, which is always a challenge when facing Paul.

But in his second game back from a knee injury, Paul looked rusty and finished with five points and seven assists in 32 minutes.

Rookie Marcus Thornton had another good game against the Cavs with 20 points, and quick guard Darren Collison had 17 off the bench. But the Hornets could manage only 44 percent shooting and were just 6-of-21 on 3-pointers.

Together, though, they couldn't even match James. As usual for the opposition, that's a problem.

"He's got a lot of size, speed, length, quickness, athleticism and intellect," Hornets coach Jeff Bower said of James. "He's the total package."

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